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TechCrunch Disrupt is an annual conference hosted by TechCrunch in San Francisco, New York and Europe (London/Berlin), which began in 2011. New technology startups launch their products and services at the event, competing in front of venture capital investors and media.

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Together with TechCrunch Disrupt, we embarked on a journey to make startups and investors meet in a more efficient way than ever before.

How it all started

As a startup it’s not always easy to find potential investors to back up your idea. And as an investor it can be difficult to attract companies that tick all the boxes in your investment thesis.

TechCrunch Disrupt, one the world’s most acknowledged tech conferences hosted by TechCrunch, struggled with this idea: how to automate 1-to-1 meetings between startups and investors and make them flow as smoothly as possible?

At Brella, we were thrilled about the challenge. The cooperation between Brella and TechCrunch began late 2016 when the TechCrunch staff embarked on a mission to find a scalable platform that could serve their attendees networking needs, especially in the startup & investor scenario. After talking to the best in the industry, Brella was chosen as the official partner of the TechCrunch Disrupt Events series.

The solution

Techcrunch’s first CrunchMatch effort powered by Brella was held at the Disrupt NYC event in May 2017.

Startup founders and investors attending Disrupt NYC were invited to join the CrunchMatch platform three weeks before the event. This gave both parties more than enough time to familiarize themselves with the sort of investors and startups participating.

This sort of pre-engagement and preparation is crucial not only for building an efficient meeting agenda, but to also ensure high quality 1-to-1 meetings when on the search for the right investor or best of kind startups.

Founders and investors build their own profiles on Brella based on what they are seeking and offering. Both parties need to first understand categories like industry verticals, stage, location, funding status, etc. for both to make validated choices around who should they meet 1-to-1 at the event.

Brella is unique in a way that the platform is smart enough to suggest the best matches that one might be looking for. The rest is up to the individual.

“Brella’s solution mapped really well to the need and mindset of the people who attend TechCrunch events.”

-Ned Desmond, COO TechCrunch

Results

At TechCrunch Disrupt NYC, Brella produced over 450 investor/founder meetings, nearly 5x more than the previous year.

At Disrupt San Francisco the amount was even higher – a staggering 1,300+ startup & investor meetings in three days. That was 5x more meetings than their previous flagship event in SF, which attracts the highest amount of attendees from their current event portfolio.

According to Kumardev Chatterjee, Founder & CEO of Unmanned Life, he found the most valuable business connections through Brella.

“The people that I met at TechCrunch Disrupt were the right people for my business.”

William Skannerup, Founder of Gentoo App stated that one single connection they found through Brella put them ahead several months.

“I believe that we solved a massive problem here and that put us ahead approximately four months in product development. Just one 20-minute meeting and now we’re here.”

Further reading

Plug and Play

One person, one connection can change everything. Plug and Play Tech Center, Silicon Valley’s famous startup accelerator and corporate innovation platform has understood this from the very beginning. Startups can shape brilliant prototypes and truly shake industries. However, startups need the right connections to scale and develop fast. This was also at the very core […]

Upgraded Life Festival

Upgraded Life Festival wanted a networking tool to deliver connections their attendees needed. The partnership with Brella has already lasted three years. How it all started Upgraded Life Festival, organised by Upgraded, collects the top health professionals & influencers in the Nordic & Baltic region. Hosted annually in Helsinki, this event has been instrumental in […]

Insurtech Insights

Insurtech Insights promised amazing networking opportunities for its attendees and needed a software to provide exactly that. How it all started Gathering together over 240 keynote speakers and over 1,200 insurtech professionals from all around the world, Insurtech Insights is Europe’s leading insurtech conference. Established by top-tier individuals in insurance and insurtech, their goal is […]

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